オタクールチャーの坂Standing by the hill-side gazing over the Cool Culture of Otakuism!

Half the Size of What It Used to Be

Two decades back, a video game legend was born, preaching the importance of sneaking-by enemies instead of run ‘n’ gunnin’ like a majority of the other games at the period such as Resident Evil 2, Half-Life, etc. The only other game that comes close to this stealth focused mechanic is Thief: The Dark Project.

The titular Metal Gear as seen in the title of the game itself, is a bipedal walking tank capable of traversing any terrain and possess the ability to launch a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world via its magnetic rail-gun that is untraceable to any radar system.

Some years back, ThreeA released a fully articulated gigantic figure of REX itself; impressive as it maybe, so was the retail price. ^^; However due to popular demand, another REX was released at end of last year: basically the same REX, albeit now half of its original size, thus more affordable.

Originally hesitate to pre-order the mini REX, in the end I jumped off the fence and impulse purchase it anyway, from Bambaland 3A…

After a long pre-order period, the Metal Gear REX Half-Size Edition was shipped to my den close to Christmas time last year, and I had quite the fun in having a photo session (You can check the EXIF of a majority of the photos posted here for the date :3c) then.

However, I discovered some of its gimmicks are faulty, and had to send it back to ThreeA for troubleshooting. It wasn’t until a fortnight before that REX finally made its return trip back from its maker, so I can now finalised this long postponed review post. www

REX comes in a very clean and sleek box design clad in what I assume are 3D renders of the figure itself surrounding the surface, along with the title of its origin spread across two connecting sides of the box (I adore this kinda design element setup), with the actual figure itself fully protected by soft foams within.

Sporting an intense layer of detailing and paint job, REX is fully clad in heavy weathering, as expected from the likes of ThreeA. Dirt, chipped paints, metallic detailing are fully realised on the Metal Gear.

Die cast parts are an abundance as well, from the railgun to the pile drivers to the cockpit and neck connection. A wide range of friction and ratchet joints allows superb poseability of the mecha.

The panels covering AT missiles bays on the REX’s knees and its back can be opened (Instead of parts swapping like the older, larger REX…) to simulate launching of the said missile. REX is also equipped with a MTHEL-FE underneath its crotch area and a couple of rotary cannons near the cockpit.

It’s no wonder Snake was having a tough time bringing it down in the game. w

Even though about half a size of its gigantic predecessor as per the product name suggested, this REX doesn’t skim on the gimmicks featured on the larger cousin’s, while featuring a few of its unique ones.

By pushing a button located behind the Radome, you can remove the lid to reveal a damaged interior, simulating REX’s crippled battle as seen in the game.

The L.E.D. gimmick is left intact on this smaller REX, projecting a constant stream of bright blue lights via several points around the cockpit area.

Speaking of the L.E.D. gimmick, back at the ending days of last year when I got the REX, I found out that the aforementioned doesn’t work at all, even though I’ve tried out with different sets of the button batteries needed from different retailers.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, REX only came back to me about two weeks back.

The gimmick of a sequence of lights on the rail-gun itself is also present in this mini REX, simulating the launching of the stealthy nuclear warhead.

Activated via a small button above the barrel base, the rail-gun lights-up and goes off gradually from the tip to the base like they are charging the shot, before all the lights burn brightly, thus releasing the charged shot. w

Although a bit too expensive to my taste, REX is a great addition to my seemingly endless collections of ACG stuff…

A pity it does not come with exchangeable parts like its older brother to create sort of damaged REX as seen in MGS4. There’s no mini Liquid Snake or Old Snake inside the cockpit, too.

Nonetheless, this is a must buy for any MGS fans, and since it’s a much affordable version of the previous one, they should!